Ricoh looking to expand camera business buys Pentax

The company that owns Pentax, the Hoya Corporation, has sold the imaging part of the business to camera maker Ricoh for £77m (¥10b Yen) the two companies confirmed today.

That might seems a a massive drop from the ¥100b the company paid for Pentax in 2007, however it's worth pointing out that Hoya is still keeping the medical side of the business.

Pentax fans worried that might mean the end of camera production shouldn’t be however, Ricoh has promised to strengthen it’s camera business as it aims to make a name for itself in the consumer world.

“Ricoh takes it as an indispensable initiative to obtain the small and lightweight interchangeable lens camera technology, lens technology and sales channels held by the Pentax Imaging Systems Division to pave the way for further advancement and innovations in the digital camera mark,” the new owner said in a statement.

Ricoh’s core business is office solutions focusing on MFPs, but has dabbled in cameras before, most notably a camera that featured not an interchangeable lens, but one with an interchangeable back designed for different use cases called the GXR.

Ricoh was one of the first manufacturers to launch digital cameras in 1995 and Ricoh’s current high-end compact digital cameras are well regarded in the industry like the Ricoh CX2.

Stuart has been a tech journalist since 1998 and written for a number of publications around the world. Regularly turning up on television, radio and in newspapers, Stuart has played with virtually every gadget available.